As an incoming university student, I carried a lot of nerves around academic success and whether my performance in high school would be adequate in my post-secondary education. I felt insecure about my writing skills, my reading comprehension and my ability to take notes and study after spending the latter half of my grad year sitting at home doing none of those things. Upon my arrival at Mount Allison, I was greeted with lots of folks and resources that were there to help me succeed, and after my first few weeks as a university student, my nerves began to ease. I worked hard at my classes and began to get into the groove of my schoolwork, and I reached out to my professors about my concerns (this is a piece of advice you will hear all of the time but it’s true—talk to your profs, they are there to help you !!). Despite my eased anxieties, I still faced internal struggles surrounding academic success. I think that when you come out of high school with straight As and accolades, there is an unspoken pressure to maintain this reputation and keep yourself charted on the same course. When I received grades and feedback for my first assignments, I felt disappointed to see 80s or Bs when in high school I pulled 90s. I had to learn to readjust my personal expectations and redefine what academic success meant to me. There were a couple of courses that helped me do this (here I’ll plug “Thinking Through the Arts” with Dr. Rogers and “intro to Compassionate Communities” with Dr. Shumka), but a lot of the work was personal reflection that I had to do on my own.  

Unfortunately, I place a lot of my self-worth on academic validation, which I think is a common thing for a lot of people. This is a difficult habit to break and is something that I am still working on, even in my second year. However, separating yourself from this mindset is necessary if you want to see true success. You need to give yourself freedom and permission to make mistakes so you can learn from them and grow into a better student. Coming from a chronic over-achiever, let me tell you that academic success looks different for everybody, and is fluid with the changes that come your way, whether they be personal or academic. Take online classes for example—it works for some people, but other people really struggle with it for various reasons, and that is okay! Being able to adapt and move with the ebb and flow of our academic landscape amid a global pandemic is a testament to your resiliency as a learner. 

Another newsflash: your classes are supposed to get harder! I always tell myself that if everything were easy, then there would be a problem, because it is from our discomfort and our struggle and confusion that valuable learning takes place. If you are not open to the idea of being wrong or recognizing that each experience carries with it an opportunity to learn something valuable, then you are missing the point. I will admit that I still face challenges when it comes to academic success, and I’d be lying if there aren’t times when I feel bad after getting a B. But it’s what you choose to do after that moment of disappointment that matters—you can choose to dwell on it, or you can keep moving forward. If you feel like you are learning, and that you’re changing for the better, then you can’t really ask for much more. Not every grade you get will be an A+. In fact, you might never see an A+ on your transcript, and that is totally okay, because who you are as person, and how you take your knowledge and let it carry you throughout your life, means far more than any letter on a piece of paper ever will.